The face of Anaheim City School District’s Board of Education will change in November with two incumbents opting to not seek re-election.

In the meantime, the Anaheim Union High School District will implement district elections for the first time, ending at-large voting that had previously allowed the entire electorate to vote for any candidate running for the Board of Trustees.

Anaheim City’s board president, Jose Moreno, decided to not seek another term on the panel and instead will run for Anaheim City Council. Sandy Blumberg, the only woman on the board, will not seek re-election either. Anaheim City School District has more than 19,000 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Six candidates are running for three open seats in Anaheim City: incumbent Jeffrey Cole, teacher Ryan Ruelas, businessman Carlos Llanos, parent Esther Castillo, school district secretary Cecilia Lopez and David Heywood, a member of Anaheim’s Library Board of Trustees.

Anaheim Union High School’s Board of Trustees has approved a map that carves out five areas from which school board members will be elected.

The school board cited the state’s Voting Rights Act as part of the reason for changing how it conducts elections in Anaheim Union, the fourth-largest school district in Orange County with more than 32,000 students coming from portions of Anaheim, Cypress, Buena Park, La Palma and Stanton. Each of the voting districts has more than 77,000 residents.

Al Jabbar, who was appointed to the board in January 2013, will face community volunteer Maureen Christensen and community liaison Linda Lobatos in the school district’s Trustee Area 1, which takes in north Anaheim.

Board member Annemarie Randle-Trejo, who previously lived in Trustee Area 5 near board member Anna Piercy, moved so that she could run in Trustee Area 2, which takes in central Anaheim. She is seeking a second term, facing challenges from former Trustee Thomas Holguin, business owner Eleazar Elizondo and teacher Roberto Baeza.

Piercy is running unopposed in Trustee Area 5, which takes in west Anaheim and parts of Cypress and Stanton.

There are November elections in the other five districts that serve Anaheim as well.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.